Photographic optical system



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F. E. ALTMAN Filed March 18, 1929 PHOTOGRAPHI C OPTI CAL SYSTEM July 7, 1931.

July 7, 1931. F. E. ALTMAN PHOTOGRAPHIC OPTICAL SYSTEM Filed March 18, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z Tad/ 5 l 30 0o /5 00 Patented July 7, 1931 .UNITED s'rA'rlssA PATENT? OFFICE FRED ALTMAN, F ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, AssIGfNoR, BY ESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO FELMS BEVO CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., .A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK PHOTOGRAIHIC OPTICAL SYSTEM Applieation led Iareh 1B,L 1929. Serial No. 347,756.

5 the elimination of coma by a new and simple method applicable to present optical s s-' tems: the provision of an optical system t at can be used for taking panoramic views, particularly in motion icture work; the'provision of an objective in which the optical and mechanical centers are coincident; the provision of crossed similar objectives having coincident optical and mechanical centers; and the application of these objectives and systems in panoramic motion picture work.

One of the purposes of'this invention is to produce a lens that may be used'to panoram a view during each successive exposure in motion picture work. This would require the lens to be rotated withconsiderable speed during the exposure and because of this speed it would be important to stop the lens and return it to its original position before the following exposure. It is therefore desirable to allow the lens to rotate continuously in one direction at a uniform rate. In making successive exposure as aboveoutlined it would be necessary to form a sharp' image by thel lens in both the direct anod reversed position as it rotates. Therefore the lens must be exactly symmetrical in construction about its axis of rotation and it must have both Gauss points coincident and situated, in this said airis.l 1

vIt has been foundv impossible to fdesign a symmetrical typeof lens of large aperture To render a lens system unsymmetrical and still be able to meebtthe condition of 'rotatability I construct 1t /of two parts, a rotatable symmetrical part and a fixed or stal y tionary part. The latterconsists of a negative meniscus element with surfaces concentric wlth the nodal center, or central polnt of theaxis of rotation of the movable .rotati of the rotatable element. l

As a further development of this lens system and to simplify the mechanical details of properl exposing each picture and yet be able to ta e successive ictures at the rate of twenty per second, I ave so designed an objective that the central space or separation between each of the two symmetrical components of the symmetrical objective is suiclentlly large that another identical system coul same plane and so that the Gauss Fpoints of both systems are identicalin one and the same point. This makes it possible to rotate the lens at a slower speed giving more exposure to the picture and enabling four pictures to be made with each complete revolution ofthe symmetrical objectlve.

be mounted at right angles in the The negative meniscus having radii con- 'A centered optical element but innumerable axesfor since the Ycenter'of curvature of these two surfaces are coincident innumerableradii could be drawn, all of which would be true optical axes of this concentric-meniscus. It is ytherefore seen that; regardless of the position of the symmetrical system in= its lrotation in the plane containing its opticalcenter and the Voptical center ofthe negative meniscus, the complete lens would constitute a centered system.

Both nodal centers or negative meniscuswitli concentric radii are in one and the same/point which is their common center of curvature and since this point is made common -with the common nodal center of the symmetrical component there is no shift of this nodal center; in other words the common nodal center of the symmetrical component is unaffected by the Gauss pointsof the.

addition of the concentric element inthe manner as above described.

The negative lens may be re arded as performing the function. of ren ering rays of light from a point at infinity, or parallel rays, divergent as` if they came from a finite ing an object at or near unit magnification, 'j

would be free from coma.

. tIn developing the above principles, I have found by careful mathematical analysis that it is possible to design a system as above vdescribed that is highly corrected for longitudinal chromatic aberration, laterall chromatic aberration, distortion, spherical aber? ration and astigmatism. This system also fulfills the sinev condition and is therefore free from coma for distant objects,-

preferred embodiment of my invention.

-in re erence characters indicate the same partsI The above and other objects are attained bythe structures which willbe more fully described hereinafter, reference beingmade where necessary, to the accompanying drawin the several figures on which the same and in which:

.-Fig.- 1 is a diagram used to ex lain certain of the optical principles under ying my invention'and showing one simple embodiment thereof. 1

i Fig. 2 is a.diagram showing anotherem- 'bo'diment of m invention.

' Fig. 3 is a iagram showing anotherv and Coma is an aberration of the'oblique'rays which in general can be eliminated only .in non-symmetrical optical systems. However, it may be absent in a symmetrical system at l the articular magnification of unity. That ,"itis is i the object and the image are at equal distances ,from the front and rear Gauss points respectively, these distances being twice-the focal length of the lens, the object andthe image are equal in size and the image is-free from coma.

Referring to the diagram of Fig. 1, A is an objective of the symmetrical type having front and rearGausspoints B and' P ,and a focal length PCF. That is, rays fromv the left parallel to the axis 'will be brought to a focus atA F. An object I placed at B to the' left of tlie first Gauss point byk a distano( equal to2 P"F will be imaged as I 'at B at .the right of the rear Gauss point by the same distance and at its original size. Coma will be absent from such an image,`even though present in' images at other magnificaons.

There may be'placed in front of such an objective a'negative lens L of such power that rays such as a, 12,0, cl, proceeding from the left parallel to theaxis are refracted to such an extent that, when they reach the objective, n they are proceeding. along divergent paths a', b', c', d', which extended to the left pass throughB. The effect of the lens L is, as regards the objective, that it moves the ob'ect from anl infinite distance to the point B. l e u objective .Afis therefore functioning at that magnification at which it does not introduce coma. This negative lens is preferably a meniscus, the center of. curvature of-both surfaces being at P. Under these conditions, 30 the simple unsymmetrical lens L does vnot cause coma, and hence this defect is overcome in the system.

Expressed in a different way, the system as a whole, including objective and suppleg5 mental lens, is of focal len h P B', twice the focal length of the objectlve A, and is unsymmetrical .and free of coma.

It is also obvious that the objective can be oseillated about its'rear Gauss point, alim I though when the Gauss points are not coincident there would be a slight shift of the image. In spite of this defect this system has use under certain conditions.

I will now describe a system Ain which, use un is made of this principle for a particular purpose. AIn Fig. 2, which is diagrammatical, is

shown a symmetrical doublet, O, so designed that bothv itsv Gauss points are coincident at v P, which is'also its mechanical center. In' 1w front of this objective is mounted a negative meniscus lens M, having concentric surfaces R and R with their center of curvature at the point P. vIt is obvious, since the doublet is symmetrical,` that it can be turned end for ma end without affectin the system. The lens `M is of considerab e diameterl and if the doublet alone is turned about the point P, the meniscus lens will continue to function, butthe effective axis of the' system vwill swing nu with the objective, `and the -focal field of the system swingsy about the curved locus C. y

If the doublet rotates about P, its field will sweep repeatedly. across this locus. If at this locus is placed a curved exposure field such llaas a motion picture'gate past which a film is intermittent y in oved, a series of panoramic motion picture images will be imp onza film at such a gate.. L,

-The amount of correction of coma found la tobe satisfactory for hi h de motion pic- I ture work may be attame if the negative lens is onl powerful enough to cause the focallengt of the system to be of the order of ifty per cen'tgreater than' that of the 1% objective alone. is for other tactical reasons 1s also desirable. n,If the.4 ublet alone has, say, an aperture' of F/2 at its normal focal length; t e aperture of the whole sys-` tem' would be F/fi, 1f the focallen'gth s'twxee lll as great. The greater the ower of. the negative lens, the less will be t e aperture ofthe system.. Moreover, the making of the surface of the negative lens concentric requires that this lens be very thick in order to be of the power required. For this reason I make the negative lens as weak as the quality of the image will permit. Itmay of course be omitted entirely fory work of comparatively low quality in which coma is ignored, but Where the ability to rotate the objective is desirable.

The data of the system disclosed in Fig. 2 is as follows :l l i cus lens, and L1 to L3 to successive lenses of a single component, R1 to R1i and R8 designate the succession radii of curvature, T1 to T4 the thicknesses, and S1 to S3, the separations.

The index of refraction in the D line and the dispersive ratio are also given. The glasses used are, successively, borosilicate crown, barium crown, barium crown and dense flint. The focal length of the whole system is 81.26 and of the symmetricaldoublet alone, 49.95.

That is the focal length ofthe system is 163% of that of the doublet. The focal length of each component of the doublet is 77.25.

The aperture of the doublet `considered alone is .IT/2.0, and of the system as a whole, IgG/3.3. The back focal length of the system is A still further extension land preferred form of the idea is shownin Fig. 3. In this,

instead of a single doublet, I have shownA two crossed similar, symmetrical doublets, the

axes of which are at a right angle, one to the other. These are so esigned that the central space of each doublet 1s sufficient to permit the full aperture of the complementary doublet-to be utilized across it. Both components, each composing the half or one Gauss points of both doublets are coincident with the point p which is the mechanical center'and the Aaxis lof rotation and is also the center of curvature of both surfaces of the. iXed negative lens L1. It follows that all fourof the two doublets, are equal yand symmetrically located with respect tothe center. The

operation of this system is the same as in Fig.

2, except that four exposures are made with every complete rotation of the doublets. The data of the system are as follows:

The same data. are given as in the first ta.- ble, the application of corresponding refer- 85 ence characters beingv obvious. .The focal length ofthe whole system is 51.21 and olthe l doubletalone 36.80. The focal length of each compone-nt of each doublet is 60.0. The glasses a're lespectively borosilicate crown90 barium crown, light flint and light barium The same results would not be accomplished by rotating any ordinaryfobjective about its mechanical center or about one of its Gauss '95 points, because then the optical effect would not be the same when the lens is reversed or during different angular positions. The me-` niscus lens with its centers of curvature at thel position dened by me does not affect them upon its power and its position. For mechanical reasons it is desirable to place it Vas close as possible to the rotating doublet. The cur-A n vatures and attendant thickness of the meniscus lens are not. at all :critical and may be varied within wide limits. It is also possible to vary widely the number of lenses and their shape in the. symmetrical doublet and still at- 115 .tain an objective' having coincident Gauss points. .Y

It is also to be understood that the doublet alonefused without the negative lens, can be rotated about its center and utilized in the 120 taking' of 'motion pictures under circum stances where coma can be disregarded, such as undler bright light conditions where `a small aperture is used.

Since the negative meniscus lens is in itsel 12.5

uncorrected there being particularly a certain amount ,of negative aberration, the doublet is so designedl as to compensate for this.

I contemplate as included in my invention all, such modifications and eqiuvalents as 130 fall within the terms of the appended claims.

`Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A photographic optica-l system comprising a symmetrical objective of finite, positive focal length and uncorrected for coma and a p `ing a symmetrical objective of nite, positive negative meniscus lens, concave to the doublet, both surfaces of the meniscus lens being concentric with one of the Gauss points of the objective.

2. A photographic optical system comprising a symmetrical objective of finite, positive focal length and uncorrected' for coma and a negative meniscus lens, concave to the doublet, both surfaces of themeniscus lens being concentric with the front Gauss point ofthe objective, the objective being mounted to turn about its rear Gauss point.

3. An optical system comprising an objecv tive in the form of a doublet, the two Gauss points of which are coincident and a negative meniscus lens concave to the doublet, both surfaces of the meniscus lens having their centers of' curvature coincident with the position of the Gauss points. l v

4. An optical system comprising an objective in the form of a doublet, the two Gauss points of which arecoincident and a negative 0 meniscus lens concave to the doublet, both surfaces of the meniscus lens having their centers of curvature coincident with the position of the Gauss points, the objective belng Y mounted to rotate about the coincident Gauss 5 points.

5. An optical system comprising an objective inI the ferm of a symmetrical doublet, the two Gauss points of which are coincident and a negative meniscus lens concave to the doublet, both surfaces of the meniscus lens having their centers of curvature coincident with said Gauss points. A

6. An optical system comprisin arrobjective in the form of a symmetric doublet, the two Gauss points of which are coincident with the 'mechanical center of the objective and a negative meniscus lens concave to thev doublet, both surfaces of the meniscus lens having their centers of curvature coincident with said` mechanical center of the doublet.

doublet having its Gauss points coincident at focal length and "uncorrected for coma and a negative meniscus lens, concave to the doublet, both surfaces of themeniscus I ens being concentric with one of the Gauss points of the objective and the doublet bein deuncorrected meniscus.

10. An optical system comprising an objective in the form of a doublet, the two Gauss Lsigned to compensate forthe errors o the points of whichare coincident and a negative meniscus lens concave to the doublet, both surfaces of the meniscus lens having their centers o f curvature coincident with the. sition of the Gauss points and the doublet ing designed to compensate for the errors of the uncorrected meniscus. s

Signed at Rochester', New York, this 9th day of March, 1929.

, FRED E. ALTMAN.

All

7. An 'opticalisystem comprising an objec-A tive in the form o a symmetrical ublet, the two Gauss points of which are coincident ,with the mechanical` ceiiter of the objective and a negative meniscus lens concave to the' doublet, both surfaces of the meniscus lens having their centers 'off curvature coincident with said mechanical center of the doublet, said doublet being mounted torotate about said mechanicalcenter.

8. An optical system( comprising two similai.' symmetrical doubletsmounted on a com- 'mon rotatable support with their axes po'sitioned at a right angle. one tothe other, each 

